The Whitall House, located in what is now called National Park, was built in 1748 by John and Ann Whitall — affluent Quakers and farmers.

While it’s best known for serving as a field hospital during the American Revolution, the Whitall House has much more history to share.

Jennifer Janofsky, curator of the Whitall House, said Ann Whitall — the matriarch of the family — gave birth to nine children, eight of whom survived.

In a new exhibit, “From Midwifery to Yellow Fever: Life and Death at the Whitall House,” visitors can see what childbirth was like in the 1700s and also see medical instruments that were used to treat the Yellow Fever that eventually killed Ann Whitall.

“People always say life was so much simpler back then, but so many things are so much easier today,” Janofsky said.

The exhibit examines birth and death because those are both life events “we can relate to.”

“They didn’t use physicians for childbirth, they worked with a female midwife,” Janofsky said. “Childbirth was a female event.”

For the first time ever, guests can ascend the stairs of the Whitall House and visit the birthing room where a vertical birthing chair, forceps and Ann’s own mortar and pestle.

“Today we think of giving birth lying in bed,” Janofsky said. “But back when Ann had her children, they used vertical birthing chairs and let gravity do its thing.”

She said having the pregnant woman sit up vertically “helps facilitate labor.”

This display in the Midwifery Room at the Whitall House shows an early version of forceps and Ann Whitall's personal prayer book.Staff photo by Kelly Roncace

“Today, birth is exciting,” she said. “But in the 18th century, it was feared and dreaded.”

How many children a woman gave birth to was also not her decision.

“It was the husband’s decision,” Janofsky said. “The woman didn’t have a choice. The father decided how many children he needed to work the farm.”

In a separate room, visitors can see what the end of life — instead of the beginning — was like during the 1700s.

“In 1797, seven members of the Whitall family died from Yellow Fever, including Ann,” Janofsky said. “She survived the birth of nine children and the Revolution, and was taken out by Yellow Fever.”

The outbreak hit Philadelphia in 1793 where the city lost 10 percent of its population.

“There really isn’t a treatment for Yellow Fever, so they used things like blood letting and bleeding,” Janofsky said.

Through a collaboration with the Mutter Museum in Philadelphia, there are several instruments on display in the Yellow Fever room that were used to treat the disease.

A lancet — a surgical instrument used to bleed patients or breath a vein — is not nearly as disturbing as the scarificator.

A vertical birthing chair and crib in the Midwifery Room at the Whitall House.Staff photo by Kelly Roncace

Janofsky explained the scarificator has multiple, sharp, spring-loaded blades that would instantly put several slices on a patient’s wrist.

“They would do anything back then,” she said of the treatments.

There is also a cupping set on display.

“They would heat the glass cups which were open at the bottom to create a vacuum and cause blisters, with the idea of drawing the disease out,” Janofsky said.

The new exhibit was made possible through a grant from the New Jersey Council for the Humanities and in cooperation with the Gloucester County Department of Parks and Recreation.